[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 8, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1304-S1307]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to join a number of our 
colleagues in marking the 25th annual observance of International 
Women's Day.
  Today, March 8, 2000, is a day on which people around the world will 
celebrate the myriad contributions and accomplishments of women.
  Women in the United States and around the world have made tremendous 
progress toward full equality since this observance was initiated by 
the United Nations in 1975, the International Year of the Woman.

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  Sadly, that progress has been tempered by the continued prevalence--
and in some places the troubling acceptance and even encouragement--of 
gender-based discrimination, harassment, and violence.
  No one disputes that women in the United States have come a long way 
in the quarter century since the first International Women's Day was 
observed. Women are making significant contributions at every level of 
our society and in every level of government, from local school boards 
to the President's Cabinet.
  But we must do more. Quality, affordable child care must be more 
accessible. Women should not have to choose between taking care of 
their children and the job that they need to provide the basic 
necessities of food, clothing, and shelter for their families.
  The glass ceiling, while perhaps a bit cracked, still blocks the 
progress of many women who work outside the home. And women who work 
outside of the home deserve equal pay for equal work. We must do all we 
can to close the wage gap between women and their male counterparts.
  In the United States, March is National Women's History Month. This 
month we celebrate the contributions of women such as Carrie Chapman 
Catt, a native of Ripon, Wisconsin, who served as the last president of 
the National American Women Suffrage Association, and was the founder 
and first president of the National League of Women Voters. Her 
influence on the direction and success of the suffrage movement is 
legendary, and her legacy in grassroots organizing is equally 
significant. She led a tireless lobbying campaign in Congress, sent 
letters and telegrams, and eventually met directly with the President--
using all the tools of direct action with which political organizers 
are now so familiar today.
  Catt's crusade for suffrage saw a home front victory on June 10, 
1919, when Wisconsin became the first state to deliver ratification of 
the constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote before it 
was adopted as the Nineteenth Amendment in August of 1920.
  Carrie Chapman Catt's legacy is alive and well today as women around 
the globe become more active in their communities and in the political 
process.
  As Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on African Affairs of the 
Committee on Foreign Relations, I had the opportunity late last year to 
travel to ten African nations. During my trip, I saw first-hand the 
important role that women play in every aspect of society in sub-
Saharan Africa.
  In Rwanda, I was struck by the generosity and far-sightedness of a 
woman I met just outside the capital city of Kigali. She had donated 
land to refugees from different ethnic backgrounds and was helping them 
to build a new, integrated community on that property. It is this kind 
of selfless act that will help to build the bridges that are necessary 
to heal the wounds left by the ethnic violence in that country.
  While in Uganda, I had the opportunity to meet with female 
legislators and the Minister of Ethics and Integrity, who happens to be 
female. Africa can only benefit from the women who are taking an active 
role in governing.
  Women's voices also need to be heard in ongoing peace negotiations 
around the globe. For example, it is crucial that women be included in 
the inter-Congolese dialogue, and that they be allowed to participate 
fully in Rwanda's justice system.
  On a more somber note, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has ravaged the 
countries of sub-Saharan Africa. This disease affects women at a 
significantly higher rate than men. We need to be vigilant in 
preventing mother-to-child transmission and in promoting programs at 
home and abroad that educate women about reproductive choices and the 
prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.
  I would also like to take this opportunity, as we honor all women and 
girls worldwide, to again call for prompt hearings in the Senate 
Committee on Foreign Relations, of which I am a member, on the United 
Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination 
Against Women (CEDAW). CEDAW marked its 20th anniversary last year and 
still has not been ratified by one of its chief architects--the United 
States. The Senate should fulfill its constitutional responsibility to 
offer its advice and consent on this treaty.
  Mr. President, as the father of two daughters, I believe we must do 
all we can to improve the status of women in the United States and 
around the world. Respect for basic human rights--regardless of gender, 
race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation--is a 
fundamental value that we must pass on to our children and 
grandchildren.
  Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, in honor of International Women's Day, I 
respectfully call upon my friend, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign 
Relations Committee, to hold hearings on an international treaty to 
fight discrimination against women around the world.
  The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination 
Against Women (CEDAW) was adopted by the United Nations in 1979 and 
signed by President Carter in 1980. It is a comprehensive and detailed 
international agreement to promote the equality of women and men. It 
legally defines discrimination against women for the first time and 
establishes rights for women in areas not previously covered by 
international law. More than 160 countries have ratified CEDAW, 
including all of our European allies and most of our important trading 
partners. It is well past high-time that the United States Senate take 
up and ratify this important international agreement.
  In 1988, I convened field hearings on CEDAW in Massachusetts to 
highlight the importance of this treaty to American women. In the years 
that followed, I was pleased to support the efforts of former Senator 
Claiborne Pell, then-chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, to 
develop a resolution of ratification of CEDAW. In 1994, thanks to 
Senator Pell's leadership, the Foreign Relations Committee voted 13 to 
5 to report the Convention favorably with a resolution of ratification 
to the Senate for its advice and consent. Despite support for 
ratification from Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, many 
state legislatures, the Clinton administration, and from the American 
public, opponents of this treaty blocked its consideration by the full 
Senate.
  The resolution of ratification for CEDAW could be taken up tomorrow, 
if there was the political will in the Senate to do so. Ratification of 
CEDAW will strengthen our continuing efforts to ensure that women 
around the world are treated fairly and have the opportunity to realize 
their full potential. It will send a clear signal of our commitment to 
eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and it will 
underscore the importance we assign to international efforts to promote 
the rights of women. By allowing us to participate in the UN Committee 
on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, ratification will 
give us a bigger voice in shaping international policies that affect 
women.
  Our failure to ratify has encouraged criticism from allies who cannot 
understand our refusal to uphold rights that are already found within 
the provisions of our own Constitution. It has put us in the same 
category with a small and very undistinguished minority of countries 
who have not ratified CEDAW, including Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran 
and Sudan. It is difficult for the United States to criticize the 
terrible treatment of women in these and other nations when we have not 
yet recognized those rights as international legal standards.
  CEDAW is an important human rights document that is largely 
consistent with the existing state and federal laws of the United 
States. Senate advice and consent to this Convention will demonstrate 
U.S. leadership in the fight for women around the world.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today is a very special day for 
millions of women around the world. Today is a day that celebrates the 
promise of a better future. Today is a day that offers the hope that 
injustices inflicted on too many women in too many societies will 
disappear from the earth forever. Today, March 8, 2000, is 
International Women's Day
  I rise today to recognize this day's importance to the women of today 
and to the generations of women to come. I rise to cry shame for our 
failures in fulfilling this day's promise. And, I rise to direct our 
attention to three critical

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issues: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 
Discrimination Against Women, CEDAW, international family planning, and 
the international trafficking of women and girls. These are issues in 
which the United States, and especially this body, are honor-bound to 
spare no effort in leading the international community to improve the 
status of women around the world.
  In 1948, the United Nations dramatically focused world attention on 
the international human rights agenda when it adopted the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights. This historic event aimed at increasing 
public awareness of the need to better the human condition in many 
places throughout the globe. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
represented a milestone in human history. Regrettably, it glossed over 
the needs of over half the world's population--women.
  Women's rights remained unrecognized as a legitimate concern until 
the Convention to Eliminate all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 
CEDAW, was drafted to redress this oversight. CEDAW organized all 
existing international standards regarding discrimination on the basis 
of gender, and established rights for women in areas not previously 
subject to international standards. The United States actively 
participated in drafting of the Convention; President Carter signed it 
on July 17, 1980.
  Then the U.S. did nothing. For fourteen years, the United States 
scrutinized CEDAW with an intense scrutiny normally reserved for 
judging the merits of a technically demanding international agreement, 
not a document seeking to establish the fundamental human rights of 
over half the world's population. CEDAW was not sent to the Senate 
until September, 1994.
  In 1994, the Foreign Relations Committee recommended by bipartisan 
vote that CEDAW be approved with qualifications, but acted too late in 
the session for the Convention to be considered by the full Senate.
  Now, almost six years later, the Convention continues to languish in 
the Senate, locked up in the Committee on Foreign Relations. A bi-
partisan group of women Senators, among whom I am proud to be counted, 
has sponsored Senate Resolution 237 which expresses the sense of the 
Senate that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should hold hearings 
on CEDAW and that the full Senate should act on CEDAW by March 8, 2000.
  Today is March 8, 2000. The date has come, and will go, and this body 
has yet to take substantive action on CEDAW, even though this 
Convention contains no provisions in conflict with American law.
  The Convention has been ratified by 161 countries. Of the world's 
democracies, only the United States has yet to ratify this fundamental 
document. Indeed, even countries we regularly censure for human rights 
abuses--China, the People's Republic of Laos, Iraq--have either signed 
or agreed in principle. In our failure to ratify CEDAW, we now keep 
company with a select few--Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Afghanistan 
among them. Remember, as the old saying goes, we are judged by 
the company we keep. Is this how we want to be known when it comes to 
defending the human rights of those unable to defend themselves?

  In failing to sign on to this Convention, we risk losing our moral 
right to lead on human rights. By ratifying CEDAW, we will demonstrate 
our commitment to promoting equality and to protecting women's rights 
throughout the world. By ratifying CEDAW, we will send a strong message 
to the international community that the U.S. understands the challenges 
faced by discrimination against women, and we will not abide by it. By 
ratifying CEDAW, we reestablish our credentials as a leader on human 
rights and women's rights.
  Today, as we commemorate International Women's Day, I call on my 
colleagues in the Senate to move forward and ratify CEDAW.
  The second issue I would like to touch on today is one which has seen 
much congressional attention in recent years: U.S. support for 
international family planning and reproductive health.
  The world now has more than 6 billion people. The United Nations 
estimates this figure could be 12 billion by the year 2050. Almost all 
of this growth will occur in the places least able to bear up under the 
pressures of massive population increases. The brunt will be in 
developing countries lacking the resources needed to provide basic 
health or education services. If women are to be able to better their 
own lives and the lives of their families, they must have access to the 
educational and medical resources needed to control their reproductive 
destinies and their health.
  International family planning programs reduce poverty, improve health 
and raise living standards around the world; they enhance the ability 
of couples and individuals to determine the number and spacing of their 
children.
  Under the leadership of both Democratic and Republican Presidents, 
and under Congresses controlled by Democrats and Republicans alike, the 
United States has established a long and distinguished record of world 
leadership on international family planning and reproductive health 
issues.
  Unfortunately, in recent years these programs have come under 
increasing partisan attack, despite the fact that no U.S. international 
family planning funds are spent on international abortion.
  The Fiscal Year 2000 omnibus appropriations bill contained ``Mexico 
City'' restrictions that prohibit U.S. grants to private foreign non-
governmental organizations that perform abortions or lobby to change 
abortion laws in foreign countries. House leaders insisted on these 
provisions in exchange for acceptance of arrear payments to the United 
Nations.
  I was disappointed that the bill included this language. I voted in 
favor of the legislation because I thought it critical that we pay our 
back dues to the United Nations, and because it contained a provision 
granting Presidential authority--which President Clinton later 
exercised--to waive the restrictions through the end of Fiscal Year 
2000. I am pleased the President took this action and that he announced 
that he would oppose any attempt to renew the ``Mexico City'' 
restrictions when they expire on September 30, 2000.

  International family planning programs have experienced significant 
cuts in funding in recent years. President Clinton's foreign aid budget 
for Fiscal Year 2001 calls for $542 million for international family 
planning programs, restoring funding to Fiscal Year 1995 levels.
  Today, as we mark International Women's Day, I urge my colleagues to 
recommit themselves to U.S. leadership in international family planning 
and support the President's request.
  Lastly, I would like to focus attention on a vicious, and growing 
problem for women the world over--forced or coerced trafficking of 
girls and women for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
  This is a rapidly growing, highly lucrative international business. 
The United Nations estimates that every year millions of women fall 
victims to this international trafficking in human life. Criminal 
organizations make an estimated $7 billion a year on the trafficking 
and prostitution of approximately 4 million women and girls. They do 
some by preying on the fears and economic insecurity created by the 
grinding poverty, rising unemployment and disintegrating social 
networks common to many poorer societies, today.
  The traffickers target women from Eastern Europe and East Asia, women 
who agree to work as waitresses, models or dancers in the 
industrialized world to escape the grip of poverty in their native 
lands. But, once they arrive, their passports are seized, they are 
beaten, held captive and forced into prostitution. Traffickers and 
pimps hold these women in bondage, forcing them to work uncompensated 
as repayment for exaggerated room, board, and travel expenses.
  These victims have little or no legal protection; they travel on 
falsified documents or enter by means of inappropriate visas provided 
by traffickers. When and if discovered by the police, these women are 
usually treated as illegal aliens and deported. Even worse, laws 
against traffickers who engage in forced prostitution, rape, kidnaping, 
and assault and battery are rarely enforced. The women will not testify 
against traffickers out of fear of retribution, the threat of 
deportation, and humiliation for their actions.

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  We, as a nation, cannot sit idly and allow this vicious exploitation 
of women to continue unchecked. We must effectively enforce current 
laws and implement new laws to protect victims and prosecute 
traffickers. I am proud to be a co-sponsor of Senator Wellstone's 
International Trafficking of Women and Children Victim Protection of 
1999 which provides more information on trafficking and toughens law 
dealing with the illegal trade of women.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support this vital piece of 
legislation.
  The issues I have laid before you today are not just women's issues, 
they are humanity's issues. As First Lady Hillary Clinton has said, 
`Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights.' 
They merit attention throughout the year, not just on one day.
  We must debate and ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All 
Forms of Discrimination Against Women. We must rededicate ourselves and 
our resources to international family planning programs. And we must 
enact tough anti-trafficking legislation.

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